What Is Knooking And How Do I Get Started?

What IS Knooking?

Knooking is the lovechild of knitting and crochet. It was invented in Japan in the early nineties and recently more people have been picking it up – maybe because they’ve already mastered knitting and crochet, or maybe they wanted to learn one or the other but decided to learn a bit of both? Whatever your reason for showing interest, rest assured that this craft is just as rewarding as its seasoned counterparts.

A knook looks like a crochet hook with an eyelet on the end. You start out the project similarly to when you crochet something, but that’s where the similarities stop. When you’re finished ,you’re going to be left with something that looks a lot more like a knitted item. This is because knooking borrows its stitches from knitting, though it goes about making them in an entirely different way.

There are some key differences between knooking and both knitting and crochet. In other words, learning how to knook is something all its own. Knitters and crocheters can’t expect to jump in and know exactly what they’re doing. The cross-pollination between disciplines is enough to create something uniquely itself.

That said, when people who know how to knit learn how to crochet, the learning curve is just as steep as someone who has never done fiber crafts before. On the flip-side, though, someone who already knows how to crochet picks up knitting quicker than the average beginning. So, similarly, if you know how to crochet you might be a step or two ahead of someone who knows how to knit when it comes to learning how to knook.

If you’re familiar with either of these styles of fiber craft, you know that crochet is a very hands-on activity. There’s a lot of yarn everywhere, tiny detail work, and counting and stuff. With knitting, there is a lot of that too, but not as much. The stitches are contained to the knitting needles, and you work from one needle to the other in repetition. For this reason, crocheters can more readily pick up the more rigid activity, whereas knitters need more time to learn the more free-form one.

The most important element that might throw you for a loop when you learn how to knook is the cord attached to the end of your needle. This tail can be made of nylon or the same yarn as your project, though many knookers agree that homemade yard created from old t-shirts (called t-shirt yarn or tarn) works best because it has enough friction to keep the stitches from slipping but not so much that it makes the work hard to move.

Whatever you choose to work with, it should be about the same thickness as your yarn. The cord helps maintain the size of your stitches, so don’t go using embroidery thread or something crazy like that!

If you’ve ever heard of Tunisian crochet (also called Afghan Crochet, Shepherd’s Knitting, Railroad Knitting, and Cro-hooking), some elements of knooking are going to look familiar to you. In Tunisian crochet, you actually hold multiple loops on the crochet hook at at once just like you would do if you were knitting. You never turn the project like in normal crochet; instead you go forward by adding stitches to your hook, and then you reverse when you remove stitches, creating the fabric as you go.

While knooking is not the same activity, the creation of stitches on the needle works the same. Once you create your stitches, though, you don’t work in reverse; instead you flip your work and pull your knook all the way through so the existing stitches are held in place on the cord attached to the eyelet of your needle. Then you hook into the row you just created and that’s when the knit stitches happen.

In Tunisian crochet, you pick up stitches when you move forward by creating slip stitches. In knooking, you use the crochet hook to do either knit or purl stitches through the previous row (that’s the row that’s now suspended on the cord attached to your needle).

In short, the wrist motion reads crochet, but the end result screams knit. Basically, when you knook the cord is playing the role of your second knitting needle.

How to Knook

Getting started on a knooking project looks no different than when you start a crochet project. Unlike knitting with its “casting on” process, crochet and knooking begin with a simple slip knot followed by a chain of single crochet.

To create a chain stitch:

• Make a loop in the yarn.
  
• Stick your knook through the loop, hook it over the yarn, and pull it and the yarn back through the original loop. Draw the new loop tight on your knook. This is a slip knot.
  
• Next, bring the yarn over your needle from the back to front.
  
• Grab the yarn with your knook and pull it through the slipknot.
  
• Make sure to catch that loop on your knook. You’ve now made one stitch.
  
• Repeat as many times as needed to create your first row. Don’t hold any stitches on your knook just yet, though. There should only be one at a time for this initial row.
  

Now, to get knooking all you need to do is insert your knook into the chain stitches and pick up your working yard. The motion is the same as if you were creating a single crochet, but rather than pushing each stitch off the knook once you’ve made them, you keep them on the knook.

At the end of the row, turn your entire work around. Then, pull your knook all the way through so the entire piece slides onto the cord. This will position the working yarn (aka the yarn that’s still attached to the skein) at the right end of your project. Now it’s time to create a brand new row of stitches.

Insert your knook from front to back into the first, right-hand stitch that’s sitting on the cord. The knook should go under the cord and the working yard should be behind the project. Hook onto the working yarn (no wrapping around the needle required!) and pull it through the stitch from the last row. This will create a new stitch that’s held on your knook. You just made a knit stitch!

To create a purl stitch, you insert your knook from back to front of the project, moving under the cord, and then grab the yarn and pull it through.

There are more detailed knit stitches you can recreate when knooking, but those are the two basic ones you need to know to get going.

Knitting Patterns for Knookers

Knooking takes a lot of its inspiration from knitting because it mimics nearly all of the knitting stitches, so it’s easy enough for you to adapt a knitting pattern for your knooking needs, especially if you’re already familiar with how to create knit stitches. It might take a moment to translate, but the stitches can all be recreated via knooking.

If you’re an entry level knooker with no knitting or crochet experience, don’t fear! There are dedicated knook books out there, but since this fiber craft isn’t ancient like knitting and crochet are, the library of patterns is a little thin at this time. As it gains in popularity though, you can expect more and more people will share their patterns online so you too can benefit from the work they did.

Now, before you get ahead of yourself translating all your favorite knitting patterns into knooking ones, know that knooking doesn’t lend itself well to larger, more complicated projects. It’s best to reserve knooking to smaller projects unless you are really ambitious and familiar with how knitting works.

One of the downsides of knooking is that your work is either on the cord or on the needle. There’s no good stopping point. With crochet you can stop any time so long as you stick your hook into the work to keep it from unraveling. With knitting you can stop whenever all of your stitches are on one needle so long as you don’t let it slide off that needle. With knooking, you have have be very conscientious of where your work is when you take a break and work to make sure it doesn’t slide off the cord.

Aside from those two tiny drawbacks, knooking is an excellent way to make stuff out of yarn. Plus, if you already crochet you can create a makeshift knook hook by taping a length of cord to the tail end of a crochet hook. So long as the tape is smooth and can slide easily through your work, there’s no need to spend money on a dedicated knook hook when you’re just getting started!

Because knitting, knooking, and crochet can all be done from a single length of yarn, there’s no harm in giving it a try! If you don’t like what you make, you can always unravel it and start again! So, what are you waiting for? Go give it a try!